Worry About Climate Change as an Agricultural Issue Linked to Behavior Among Agricultural Students

Belief in human-caused, or anthropogenic, climate change is politically contentious in the U.S. Agricultural communities are both highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and also more likely to be skeptical that it is human-caused. However, adolescents have not yet adopted strong political views, and research suggests that climate change education may be impactful for them. Importantly, educating future farmers about anthropogenic climate change can help them prepare and adapt to global warming and improve future food security. This article sought to understand how young people from agricultural communities responded to climate change information using different “frames” and whether that was linked with behaviors.

Frames are a tool to help communicate information in a way that might resonate with its intended audience. How information is framed can impact the reader's emotions on the topic, and emotions—specifically hope and worry—may be predictors for behavior change. The authors hypothesized that an agricultural frame might elicit varying levels of hope and worry among adolescents from agricultural communities, which might lead to support for collective or individual action.

This study took place in North Carolina. The researchers recruited teachers of agricultural classes in high school to administer a survey to their students. Across the state, 950 students participated in the study; the majority were male (55% of participants) and white (66%). The survey contained three sections. First, students were asked about their beliefs around anthropogenic climate change. Then, students read a news story that was written in one of four frames: agriculture, community, health, and environment. Participants then answered questions about whether that story made them feel worried or hopeful. Finally, the survey asked them questions about whether they supported collective action (such as policies for adaptation or mitigation), or individual behavior change (such as reducing energy use or using public transit). Responses to the survey were analyzed statistically.

The study confirmed that framing can be an effective way to connect with students around climate change and that emotions may mediate belief in human-caused climate change and support for action. The results indicated that participants responded most strongly (with both hope and worry) to the agricultural and environmental frames when compared to the community and health frames. The agricultural frame also elicited more hopefulness among participants, which suggests it might be a useful tool to communicate information to climate change skeptics. The study found that increased levels of worry appear to be connected with intended behavior change, but not hope. This finding was somewhat surprising given that previous research correlated feelings of hope with action, which might be a reaction to the passage that participants read. The researchers also found that female participants were more likely to indicate increased worry or concern and were also more likely to support action.

Overall, the authors found that participants who accepted that climate change was human-caused were more likely to support action. When considering how emotions might mediate knowledge and behavior, the study found that participants who indicated that they believed in anthropogenic climate change felt increased worry and supported collective action. However, accepting human-caused climate change was not linked with hope or intention to change individual behaviors.

Since this study was focused on agricultural students in one state, more research is needed to understand whether the results might be similar in other locations. In addition, the authors did not gather parent employment information to confirm whether the participants' families were a part of the agricultural community. The authors also suggest that future research ensures that news stories are comprehensible by participants.

The authors felt encouraged that teachers are likely already using these frames in the classroom, and hypothesized that the agricultural frame resonated with students because they came from agricultural communities and it reflected their personal experience. They recommended that climate change curricula and professional development materials be developed so that this approach can be adapted to different communities.